NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 is celebrating its fourth birthday since its release between September and October 2020, but it remains one of the best value graphics cards you can put inside a custom gaming desktop targeting 1440p gaming. A natural CPU pairing remains as Intel's 13th Gen Core i5-13600K or AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X, but I have a selection of alternatives if their prices are a little too lofty for your budget.
Despite its age, the RTX 3070 still supports ray-tracing technology for advanced real-time lighting in modern games and DLSS to push for extra framerates by upscaling a lower internal resolution. The GPU itself pulls 220W TDP, so bear that in mind when choosing a CPU with higher power requirements, like the 125W Core i5-13600K. Budget options like AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X won't cause any significant performance bottlenecks, either, so don't worry about dragging the RTX 3070 down.
Recent updates
October 2, 2024: As the RTX 3070 enters its fourth year of availability, CPU costs have fallen and this guide has been updated to represent the latest prices.
Best overall
The Core i5-13600K is around $240, and is arguably the best CPU for the RTX 4070, combining the power of its 14 cores and 20 threads with a rather high, but manageable 125W TDP, support for either DDR4 or DDR5, and PCIe 5.0 compatibility. It can boost all the way up to 5.1GHz and runs on the same motherboards as Intel's previous 12th Gen chips, so if you're already on LGA 1700, you won't have to upgrade.
Best elite Intel
For the RTX 3070, we wouldn't recommend going for anything above the $350 Core i7-13700K. Offering around 15-20% more performance on average compared to the 13600K, it's ideal for folks who plan to use their 3070 to do some intensive productivity work whenever they're not gaming. If that's not you, you'll probably be better off with the 13600K.
Best budget Intel
Looking to save some money? The Intel 12th Gen Core i5-12400F, at $112, delivers some of the best value there is in the CPU market. Though its performance falls short of what you'd get with something like the 13th Gen 13600K and it doesn't support overclocking out of the box, it's still great. Also, since it's an LGA 1700 CPU, it works with both DDR4 and DDR5, allowing you to use your old memory if you want to.
Best for AM4 holdouts
If you're committed to sticking with your existing AM4 motherboard, the Ryzen 7 5800X is generally what I'd recommend. Both in terms of price as well as performance, it fits in between the i5-12400F and i5-13600K at around $165. Eight cores, 16 threads, a 105W TDP, and PCIe 4.0 support all make it an attractive option.
Best overall AMD
While it's difficult to recommend AMD's Ryzen 5 7600X since the 13600K beats it in multi-core workloads and matches it in gaming (the Ryzen 7 7700X isn't very competitive, either), the $420 Ryzen 9 7900X goes toe-to-toe with the Core i7-13700K. It performs slightly worse in gaming, but better in productivity.
Best budget AMD
Another AM4 option that's more budget-friendly is the $135 Ryzen 5 5600X, which performs a bit worse than the i5-12400F but can also be found for a marginally lower cost depending on what deals are available. Notably, it can be overclocked, which helps it get close to matching Intel's chip. You'll be limited to just using DDR4 RAM by AM4, but that's not that big of a deal.
Intel vs. AMD: Which to choose?
Why you can trust Windows Central Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
The rivalry between Intel and AMD is arguably the fiercest it's ever been right now, which is great news for folks like you and me who are buying their processors for our computers. Generally, I'd say Intel's modern chips offer better value at the moment, better performance, and lower costs than AMD used to in many cases. Team Red has wins of its own, too, and honestly, you can't really go wrong no matter what you go with.
Something that's worth keeping in mind, though, is that Intel's moving on from the LGA 1700 socket starting with its next generation of chips, while AMD's still adopting AM5. That means its current ecosystem has a better path for future upgrades, saving you the money you'd have to spend on a new motherboard later by going with Intel now. However, choosing AM5 means getting mandatory DDR5 memory, which is something you don't have to do with DDR4-compatible 12th or 13th Gen Intel CPUs.
Choosing the best CPU for NVIDIA RTX 3070
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is still a top choice for gamers looking to enjoy an awesome gaming experience without overspending. Even three years later, it continues to power through everything I've thrown at it, and I couldn't be happier with the upgrade from my RTX 2070 I made back in early 2021.
These are some of the best CPUs available right now, and happen to also be good CPUs for the RTX 3070 that'll ensure you get peak performance out of it. If I had to recommend one over all the others, it'd be the i5-13600K, as it either beats or is fiercely competitive with the entire Ryzen 7000 series of processors, yet only costs about $240 or so. However, they're all excellent choices, and if you have an AM4 motherboard already or want to move to the futureproof AM5 ecosystem, Team Red chips like the Ryzen 7 5800X or Ryzen 9 7900X won't disappoint.
